so after the perfect start - going out drinking with tom and friends the night before and getting 4 hrs sleep (one hour more than before the last flight) i was on my way to LA. Flight was ok but AA are crap compared to ba-no food on the plane, rrrrrrrubbish! TV was quite good though, crappy US sitcoms which i obviously loved. As a bonus flight was only 5hrs when i thought 6.

Got a scary Russian cab driver ,who would not stop telling me to get drunk on vodka in a fairly violent way, down to santa monica. Hostel was good and free breakfast - bagels evrywhere, what is it with bagels in the USA?

next day: "Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy HI THERE AND WELCOME TO YOUR GUIDED TOUR OF LA, MY NAME'S RAUL BUT I'M HALF IRISH, I'LL BE DRIVING THE BUS TODAY BUT ONLY UNTIL I WIN THE LOTTO, HAHAHAHAHA RIGHT? HAHAHA RIGHT?! THEN I'LL BE LIVING IN HOUSES LIKE THESE HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, RIGHT? RIGHT??? WAIT, WHO'S THIS? I THINK ITS WINONA WALKING HER DOG (clearly just a random person who looks nothing like her), QUICK, QUICK TAKE A PHOTO! TAKE A PHOTOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! DID YOU GET HER??? HAHAHAHAHA" The guy was as camp as a row of pink tents at xmas and i'm pretty sure he was just putting it on-I heard him on the phone to his wife. Anyway he was the tour guide on my bus trip which took me to Venice beach (saw where they filmed White men cant jump), Hollwood hills (see above), sunset, the strip, Hollwood walk of fame, hollwood sign viewpoint and universal city. pretty good trip but man, hollywood itself is a dump!

Next day i just had to waste time before my next flight. Walked around santa monica and went to the cinema. At LAX in the evening Obama is declared the election winner and i watched his acceptance speech through the window of a bar with about 50 people. Everyone was going crazy and i heard some guy saying it was like new years eve. my 12 hr flight to auckland is delayed by 3 hours. the 5th of novemeber 2008 is a day that i never lived, went from 4/11/08 in LAX to 6/11/08 in auckland, weird.

anyway, all is well. more soon.........